HISTORICAL SKETCH. 



INTRODUCTION. 



From its proximity to Virginia, one of the first settled 

 regions of the United States, the land from which the Dis- 

 trict of Columbia was formed would be expected to have 

 received some attention from the early explorers. Not only 

 was the vicinity of the present District explored, but fortu- 

 nately observations were made upon certain features of the 

 natural history. Romantic expectation is further satisfied 

 by the fact that none other than the redoubtable Captain 

 John Smith made and recorded the first observations 2 upon 

 the fauna of this neighborhood. We read in "The Third 

 Book of the Proceedings and Accidents of the English Colony 

 in Virginia" 3 that on "the 16 of June [1608] we fell with 

 the river Patowomek. * * * Having gone so high as we 

 could with the bote [this of course means to Little Falls] 

 we met diuers Saluages in Canowes, well loaden with the 

 flesh of Beares, Deere, and other beasts, whereof we had 

 part." Necessarily these "Beares'' and "Deere" came from 

 no great distance and must be regarded as part of the Dis- 

 trict fauna of three hundred years ago. In the narrative of 

 the return voyage, Captain Smith mentions "a few Beuers, 

 Otters, Beares, Martins and Minks we found" (op. cit, p. 

 418). 



Thus bears were recorded along the Potomac both above 

 and below the present site of Washington, and there is no 

 doubt that they once roamed over all the territory now 



1 Read at the 556th meeting of the Biological Society of Washington, 

 May 6, 1916. 



2 Such books as "A brief e and true report of the new found land of 

 Virginia * * *", by Thomas Harriot, 158b ; "The historie of travaile 

 into Virginia Brittania * * *", written by William Strachey, 1611, pub- 

 lished 1849 ; "* * * An account of several observables in Vir- 

 ginia * * *", written by John Clayton, 1688, published 1694-5 ; "Notes 

 on the State of Virginia * * *", written by Thomas Jefferson, 1781-2, 

 published 1782, and others while containing information on the natural 

 history of Virginia do not relate in any way to the region of the District 

 of Columbia. 



3 Works. Edited by Edward Arber, 1884, p. 417. 



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